District council faces legal challenge over approval of intensive poultry unit expansion

Permission was granted for a new intensive chicken shed at Hubbards Farm in June 2026.

Communities Against Factory Farming (CAFF), the claimant, argues that the planning application contained conflicting information on the number of birds that will be confined.

It also alleges that the council failed to consider the full scale of air pollution and waste impacts, as well as failed to address other material planning considerations.

According to some application documents, the current 5,000-bird farm would be replaced by an intensive unit containing at least 26,000 birds.

CAFF said it had also found a parallel Environment Agency (EA) permit application that states 109,628 chickens could be housed at any one time on the site.

The claimant said permission should not have been granted without councillors being certain of the number of birds that will be kept and without adding any condition to the decision.

CAFF argues that councillors at the planning meeting used the EA permit as evidence that the environmental effects had already been considered, which risked climate and waste impacts being overlooked.

The claimant has so far raised more than £3,600 via CrowdJustice towards its initial target of £4,000 to cover legal costs.

Maya Pardo, Legal Coordinator at CAFF, said: “Braintree District Council approved a factory farm’s expansion plans without knowing what impact it could have on public health, animal welfare and the environment. The council failed to assess the environmental impacts of this expansion, and relied on a parallel permit with wildly different numbers of birds rather than carry out checks for itself.

“The council simply did not know what it was approving, which is deeply irresponsible when the spread of intensive chicken farming is one of the main reasons so many of England’s rivers are in such poor health.”

A Braintree District Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of the claim for judicial review regarding the planning permission granted for a replacement poultry building and a new surface water attenuation basin at Hubbards Farm, Shalford which received approval from the Planning Committee on 2 June 2026.

“The council intends to defend the decision taken by the committee. As legal proceedings are now active, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.”

Harry Rodd